Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.
View more articles by Gareth BranwynIn this video tutorial, designer and maker Rob Thomas, AKA Prickly Sauce, shows how he fashioned his own custom multitool from a small 1.5mm piece of mild steel stock. Rob recommends making two at once out of a 100x150mm piece. You can keep one as a spare or maybe give one to a friend as a gift. To create the tool, he used basic metal working tools (drill, metal band saw, vise), a rotary tool, a scroll saw with a metal blade, and a bench sander.

The resulting tool sports a M4 to M12 wrench, Hex screwdriver holder socket, slotted screwdriver bit, a compass, set square, can opener, and bottle opener. I love this idea of designing and making a tool that is customized to your personal needs.
Rob also has an Instructable that shows the project step-by-step. If you want to just make a copy of Rob’s design, he has a PDF template you can download and follow. He recommends printing your stencil out onto sticky-back plastic stock (though paper and glue works fine, too).
And, as you can see, at the end of the video, he metal etches his Prickly Sauce logo onto the edge of the tool. You can learn how to do this in another Prickly Sauce video.
Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.
View more articles by Gareth Branwyn